033: Veni Kunche - 3 Years of Growth: 29x Subscribers & 34x Revenue

The Nathan Barry Show

Veni Kunche runs Diversify Tech, a newsletter-based business all about helping people who are underrepresented break into the tech world. After working as a Software Engineer since 2003, her main goal now is to help make the tech industry inclusive.

Veni’s got a really interesting business model: a mix of sponsorships and also a job board, taking advantage of the robust community that surrounds her newsletter.

Nathan and Veni cover everything from how she transitioned from working in tech to starting her business. They dive deep into the mistakes companies make when seeking to hire a diverse team, and and what they can do differently.

Veni also shares real numbers. Listen to the end to hear:

• How much she’s making per month from her newsletter.
• How her revenue has changed over the last year.
• How the pandemic has affected her sign-ups.

Links & Resources

• Black Tech Pipeline
• Techqueria
• Out in Tech

Veni Kunche’s Links

• Diversify Tech
• Business & Ally Newsletter
• Personal site: veni.dev
• Twitter: @venikunche

Episode Transcript

Veni: [00:00:00]
Companies write job descriptions, they’re writing for mainly men in tech. Also they’re writing for younger people. Oh, we have ping pong. We have pool at our office. Those are the benefits. My community don’t even care about that. What they care about is focused on how the company will support them in their career.

And so those are the signals that they’re looking for.

Nathan: [00:00:26]
Today’s interview is with Veni Kunche who runs a newsletter-based business called Diversify Tech, which is all about helping people who are underrepresented break into the tech world. She’s got a really interesting business model of a mix of sponsorships, a job board, which I think is a business model on newsletters that we don’t talk about enough when you have that community.

There’s a great opportunity there. Anyway, it’s a great episode. We cover everything from how she got started, transitioning from tech to starting her newsletter. We dive deep into companies who are looking to hire a diverse team and mistakes they make and what they can do differently, how transparency really matters.

So there’s a lot of good stuff in there. Towards the end of the podcast, she gets into sharing the exact numbers behind the business, how much she’s making per month, how that’s changed over the last year. I think you’re going to love it.

Let’s dive in.

Veni, welcome to the show.

Veni: [00:01:16]
Thank you so much for having me happy to be here.

Nathan: [00:01:19]
So I thought I’d just start. If you could tell listeners a little bit, what is Diversify Tech and, you know, at a high level, like what’s the business model behind it.

Veni: [00:01:30]
Yeah. So Diversify Tech is a curated newsletter, primary purpose is to connect people who are underrepresented in tech with career opportunities. So I share scholarships that are available, jobs, events that are happening, around the U.S. so the main purpose is to connect, people who are underrepresented, to these opportunities.

The reason I started it is because when you’re underrepresented, when you’re in your workplace or in your college at college, or wherever you feel where you’re alone, and you don’t really have a network, of people like you. So I wanted to bring something where I could be that resource for people.

Nathan: [00:02:19]
Yeah, that makes sense. So when you were working as a software developer in tech was this an idea that you were thinking about for a long time and you’re like someone should make this, and then you realized that that someone was you, what was that? What was that leap?

Veni: [00:02:37]
So actually like, had no intention of starting something like this. It was, I actually just wanted to start a business. I didn’t know what that was. so I was a staff engineer for quite some time and I didn’t quite fit into the corporate world. I kept switching jobs a lot, so I was like one day I was like, you know what?

I think I want to try something on my own. So I started exploring how does one start a business? How does one? And I, you know, I learned that, you know, it takes quite some time to figure out who your customers are, customer market fit, you know, all of that. And as I was learning, I was also volunteering for the women who code chapter in DC here.

And, as I was volunteering, I connected with a lot of women in tech and that’s when I realized that there are a lot more, floods than I thought, and blah, and everybody was trying to find each other kind of, to feel connected and to kind of talk through this, you know, our issues. and I started doing just online office hours.

So I was like for 30 minutes, I would just get on Google Hangouts and talk with people. And I got connected with so many people from across the U.S. just by offering that. And then that’s when I realized, okay, everybody’s. It’s facing similar issues and we’re all discussing the same thing over in Oregon.

So I thought, Oh, why don’t I start a newsletter where I can reach more people. So prior to Diversify Tech, I started a newsletter called Code With Veni, and I was like, Oh, I’ll share what I’m learning. And I will also, you know, share what other women in tech are doing. and you know, it was more supposed to be like inspirational and, you know, that’s how it started.

And after a year of running that I started getting requests for sponsorships. People want it to sponsor the newsletter. People wanted to post jobs. Uh that’s when it finally clicked that I was like, Oh, I’m starting trying to start a business. And I think I actually started, okay. So that’s what it is like, Oh, once I started getting, receiving his foundation of, so I was like, Oh, this could be my business.

So that’s when I was like, then I kind of pivoted off of good with many. Cause I didn’t want the branding to be just me. So, and then I also wanted to include not just women, but everybody who’s underrepresented in tech. So that’s when I kind of like Diversify Tech from that.

Nathan: [00:04:54]
It’s always fascinating. How, when you build an audience, sometimes like the, the business model will just come, you know, or the business will just come and you’re like, I don’t know what it is. And then over time, someone’s like, Oh, could I do this? And you’re like, I mean, I guess so like, sure. Yeah.

Let’s talk sponsorships. That’s a great idea. Let’s you know, and then I imagine people are like, great, can I sponsor with my job listing, you know, or something like that. I’m trying to get it in front of a more diverse community. And so it was that where like the job board came in,

Veni: [00:05:25]
Yes. As I started growing the newsletter sponsorships kind of, didn’t make it like, but sense because the demand was higher than I, because I send the newsletter every week, you know, I can’t have that many sponsors showing a...